This is a comprehensive list of compositions performed or recorded by the Canadian rock band Rush or its principal members Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee, and Neil Peart, including contributions made to other artists.
List
Song
Album
Year
Notes
Ref.
"Losing Again"
Unreleased song
1969
Played by the band as early as February 1969; their first original tune.
Played by the band as early as February 1969; a cover of a John Mayall's Bluesbreakers tune (remake of Willie Cobbs original) that featured then-keyboardist (and future brother-in-law of Geddy Lee) Lindy Young singing lead vocals.
Played by the band as early as November 1969; a cover of the Led Zeppelin tune from the Led Zeppelin II album. Geddy Lee states the song was in Rush's setlist for a while during their early bar playing days, being one of the few Led Zeppelin tunes they attempted that wasn't too difficult for them to play at the time.
Played by the band as early as November 1969; an original notable for its multiple time changes that seemed to guarantee a hostile reaction at high school dances.
Drummer: John Rutsey; First single released; Buddy Hollycover; Alex Lifeson states the band used to play a really heavy version of this song during their early bar years, but toned it down a lot when this 1973 single was recorded for better commercial appeal. Originally planned for inclusion on Rush's debut album, but scrapped in the end. The song has not been released in any format since the initial 1973 Moon Records release. Allegedly only 500 copies of the single were pressed.
Drummer: John Rutsey; First original song released; B Side of Not Fade Away single; Music: Geddy Lee; Lyrics: John Rutsey; Played by the band as early as 1971. Originally planned for inclusion on Rush's debut album, but scrapped in the end. The song has not been released in any format since the initial 1973 Moon Records release. Allegedly only 500 copies of the single were pressed.
Drummer: John Rutsey; Previously unreleased early song, featured as bonus material on the 2014 compilation R40. Disk 6 Bonus Disk. Filmed during Spring 1974 at the Laura Secord Secondary School in St. Catharines, Ontario.
Drummer: John Rutsey; Previously unreleased early song, featured as bonus material on the 2014 compilation R40. Disk 6 bonus disk. Filmed during Spring 1974 at the Laura Secord Secondary School in St. Catharines, Ontario.
Semi-officially released in 2011 as ABC 1974 - The First American Broadcast; circulated as bootleg releases since the year 2000; Recorded on 26 August 1974 at the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio. Occasionally played during their debut album tour of 1974. Originally planned for inclusion on Fly by Night, but ultimately scrapped.[15] About a love gone bad.
Semi-officially released in 2011 as ABC 1974 - The First American Broadcast; circulated as bootleg releases since the year 2000; Recorded on 26 August 1974 at the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio. Regularly played by the band during their debut album tour of 1974, and occasionally during the Fly By Night tour of 1975. Larry Williams cover.
Semi-officially released in 2011 as ABC 1974 - The First American Broadcast; circulated as bootleg releases since the year 2000; recorded on 26 August 1974 at the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio. Played by band as early as 1970; Excerpt played at the very end of "Working Man" during the R40 Tour in 2015. Alludes to finding happiness with an early love.
"...the name of our record company, which is Anthem Records in Canada, came from this song. Neil was in an Ayn Rand period, so he wrote the song about being very individual. We thought we were doing something that was different from everybody else." ~ Alex Lifeson
The band's first fantasy and science fiction epic track; I. At the Tobes of Hades; II. Across the Styx; III. Of the Battle (a. Challenge and Defiance, b. 7/4 War Furor, c. Aftermath, d. Hymn of Triumph); IV. Epilogue
I. "Prelude"; II. "Apollo: Bringer of Wisdom"; III. "Dionysus: Bringer of Love"; IV. "Armageddon: The Battle of Heart and Mind"; V. "Cygnus: Bringer of Balance"; VI. "The Sphere: A Kind of Dream"
I. Buenos Nochus, Mein Froinds!; II. To sleep, perchance to dream...; III. Strangiato theme; IV. A Lerxst in Wonderland; V. Monsters!; VI. The Ghost of the Aragon; VII. Danforth and Pape; VIII. The Waltz of the Shreves; IX. Never turn your back on a Monster!; X. Monsters! (Reprise); XI. Strangiato theme (Reprise); XII. A Farewell to Things. An instrumental based on dreams of Alex Lifeson
"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"
Unreleased song
1979
Written for Permanent Waves, but ultimately scrapped at the last minute after all tracks were already completed. Loosely reworked into "Natural Science". Inspired by the 14th-century Arthurian poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Neil's original handwritten lyric sheet survives.[37]
"[Musically], the song is a new thing for us in terms of time signatures. [The piece is mostly in 13/4.] We experiment a lot with time signatures. We work in nearly every one of them that I know of that's legitimate: all of the 5s, 7s, 9s, 11s, 13s, and combinations thereof." ~ Neil Peart[39]
I. "+ Plus"; II. "÷ Divided By"; III. "="; IV. "− Minus"; V. "× Multiplied By"; VII. "= [Soft-Filter Alternate]"; Inspired by the language of electronics and computers.
"1983 was a tough year for us. The last tour was a grind, and everybody had been going through some changes. Before Peter [Henderson, the producer of Grace Under Pressure] we had a couple of other people in mind we wanted to work with [namely, Steve Lillywhite, producer of U2], but things got screwed up along the way and there was a bit of a panic. ‘Kid Gloves’ is our response to rolling with the punches during pressure." ~ Alex Lifeson[52]
"The song ‘is about the triumph of time and a kind of message to myself, because I think life is too short for all the things that I want to do. There's a self-admonition saying that life is long enough. You can do a lot, just don't burn yourself out too fast trying to do everything at once. ‘Marathon’ is a song about individual goals and trying to achieve them. And it's also about the old Chinese proverb: ‘The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.'" ~ Neil Peart[57]
"I had a major problem with playing ‘Turn the Page’ live on tour. It's a very busy bass part, and the vocal part doesn't really relate to it very much. Eventually I got it, but it took a lot of practice." ~ Geddy Lee[67]
Neil Peart's voice is mixed in low in the background on the lines, "I will be the judge / Give the jury direction."[70]
"Chain Lightning"
Presto
1989
"...the whole idea of the song was response and how people respond to things...a lot of the thrust of that song is how things are transferred, like chain lightning or enthusiasm or energy or love are things that are contagious, and if someone feels them, they are easily transferable to another person,...‘Reflected in another pair of eyes’ is the idea that it's a wonderful thing already,...but if there's someone else there with you to share it, then it multiplies, you know, it becomes exponentially a bigger experience..." ~ Neil Peart[71]
"I think it's part of everyone's experience that a certain record reflects a certain period of their life, and that's a pleasurable scar, you know, there's a mark left on you, a psychological fingerprint left by a very positive experience. And music is an easy one, but it translates to so many other parts of life where it's a given that, for instance, the sense of smell is one of the strongest forces in your memory, where a given smell will suddenly conjure up a whole time of your life, and again, it triggers another scar, it triggers another psychological imprint that was left by a pleasurable thing..." ~ Neil Peart[74]
"Presto"
Presto
1989
"I had used ‘Presto’ in an ironic sense, in wishing that I had magic powers to make things right. And I really just liked the word."[75]
Subtitled For Mongo as a tribute to the Mel Brooks film Blazing Saddles which contains a scene when the character Bart calls out "Candygram for Mongo".[77][78]
"Red Tide"
Presto
1989
Inspired by the phenomenon known as a Red tide.[79]
"On a tune like ‘Available Light,’ where the bass just provides some simple, low-end support, I'd rather play the keyboards and sing. It's just a question of what instrument will be rewarding to play from a player's point of view..." ~ Geddy Lee[81]
"...It's where I’ve looked for a universal of that trade-off between innocence and experience, and (The Big Wheel) certainly addresses that...." ~ Neil Peart[84]
...‘Ghost of a Chance’ fit right in with my overall theme of randomness and contingency and so on, but at the same time it was a chance for me to write about love in a different way, of saying, ‘Here are all these things that we go through in life and the people we meet, it's all by chance.... ~ Neil Peart[85]
"Neurotica"
Roll the Bones
1991
"Some people can't deal with the world as it is, or themselves as they are, and feel powerless to change things—so they get all crazy. They waste away their lives in delusions, paranoia, aimless rage, and neuroses, and in the process they often make those around them miserable, too. Strained friendships, broken couples, warped children. I think they should all stop it." ~ Neil Peart[86]
"You Bet Your Life"
Roll the Bones
1991
"I particularly like the lyrics in ‘You Bet Your Life.’ I wove together all the different religions and musical styles and everything. Those kinds of things are really fun and satisfying...." ~ Neil Peart[87]
Orchestration: Michael Kamen;[28] Inspired in part by the death of a friend of Neil Peart,[91] named Ellis.
"Between Sun and Moon"
Counterparts
1993
Co-written by Pye Dubois.[40] "Pete Townshend can make an acoustic sound so heavy and powerful. I’ve always admired that. On ‘Between Sun and Moon’ there's a musical bridge before the solo that's very Who-ish. I even throw Keith Richards in there. The song is really a tribute to the ’60s." ~ Alex Lifeson[40]
"Alien Shore"
Counterparts
1993
The voice in the beginning of the song is Alex Lifeson holding his nostrils closed, saying 'out of my nose'.[92]
"The Speed of Love"
Counterparts
1993
"...a song about love, about the subject of it....demythologizing, debunking." ~ Neil Peart[93]
"Double Agent"
Counterparts
1993
"...it's one of the goofiest songs I think we’ve ever written, but I’m quite happy with the result. In its own way, I think it's an interesting little piece of lunacy." ~ Geddy Lee[94]
"I had been inspired, I think, by a Paul Simon song, where I wanted to couch song lyrics in conversation—he said, she said, and all that. Simon has a song, maybe on Rhythm of the Saints, where it's in conversation." ~ Neil Peart[96]
"Everyday Glory"
Counterparts
1993
"This song ended up being an analog-tape mix. For the last few years I’ve mixed only to digital, because I figured it was just a better tape recorder. But certain songs have a heavier midrange content, and on playback the analog recorder softens the midrange a bit, giving it a more likable sound." ~ Geddy Lee[97]
Co-written by Pye Dubois.[98] "The lyrics give a video-view of this wacky world of ours and offers this tacit response: ‘Excuse me, does anybody else think this is weird? Am I weird?’ While the answer to those questions might be ‘Yes!’ it's good to know that you're not the only one, that you're not alone." ~ Neil Peart[98]
"...is just from a bass player's point of view. I wrote that song with three tracks of bass. I brought it to Alex and said, ‘Here's the song; I did three tracks of bass, but I just did that to fill in for the guitar,’ and he said, ‘Let's keep it with the three basses.’ So, I said, ‘I love you.'" ~ Geddy Lee[99]
"...is one of our finest moments as songwriters as far as writing a concise song without being wimpy or syrupy. It's got a little bit of everything: nice melody, and yet it’s still aggressive. It’s hard for us to write that kind of song, really. You’d have to go back to ‘Closer to the Heart’ to find an example of that."[100]
"The choruses in ‘Totem’ are really interesting. I created a soundscape by using harmonics with a kind of Celtic melody over it that's quite distant. In the song, in terms of dynamics, it's a really beautiful shift." ~ Alex Lifeson[103]
"We fiddled with the order of the songs on Vapor Trails right up until the last minute. However, we never doubted which song would open the album, for "One Little Victory" made such an uncompromising announcement: "They’re ba-a-a-ack!"" ~ Neil Peart[107]
"Ceiling Unlimited"
Vapor Trails
2002
Inspired by the weather and aeronautical term referring to the height of the lowest obscuring cloud layer above the ground.[108]
"Ghost Rider"
Vapor Trails
2002
Based on the self-imposed exile of Neil Peart after losing both his daughter and wife within a 10-month period.[109]
"It was almost like we already knew the song when we wrote it. We just played it. And that was really cool. That doesn't happen very often. We were high-fiving and the whole thing, because it's a relief when something like that happens, for sure." ~ Alex Lifeson[129]
"Armor and Sword"
Snakes & Arrows
2007
"Spiritual yearnings are natural to many people and may give them solace or hope, but extremists of any kind are not content with faith as armor, they must forge it into a sword." ~ Neil Peart[130]
"Workin' Them Angels"
Snakes & Arrows
2007
"I didn't think I was foolhardy or irresponsible, but a certain level of risk in life seemed worthwhile for the promised return—excitement and treasured experiences—and though I didn't really believe in ‘them angels,’ if I had them, I guessed I kept them pretty busy." ~ Neil Peart[131]
Title inspired by a conversation Geddy Lee had with his Polish mother.[134]
"The Way the Wind Blows"
Snakes & Arrows
2007
Compares the way our views are shaped as children to the way trees are shaped by the force of the wind over the years. If we grow up with extremist, intolerant views among our parents and others who are influential in our lives, then we can expect our views to reflect that extremism and intolerance.[135]
We can never know reality beyond the surface, so accept reality as we see it and put on our bravest face.[138]
"Good News First"
Snakes & Arrows
2007
"I kind of couch the lyrics in the traditional relationship song of a quarrel between two people, but, again, it's in fact me arguing with these whole masses of people who just happen to disagree with me." ~ Neil Peart[139]
Guitar (electric and acoustic)/Co-producer with Marco Minnemann; featuring Mohini Dey (Bass) and Maia Wynne (Vocals); Also available as an EP as well as instrumental version.
^Skip Daly and Eric Hansen (29 October 2019). Rush: Wandering The Face Of The Earth: The Official Touring History (1968 - 2015). Insight Editions. p. 177. ISBN9781683834502.
